See ya in 26.2 miles.

After returning from Chicago on Wednesday, I did my final interval workout - the FIRST plan called for 6 x 400's @ 5:48 pace. No problem, though my legs are still a bit sore today from the quick pace. Still, I'm hopeful the quick turnover will make 7:20's seem easy. They did today, when I did 3 miles, the last two @ marathon pace. So, for this week anyway, I was 100% FIRST. Well, not entirely. For the first time, I didn't cross-train, though I doubt it'll make any difference.

Heading into Sunday, I'm nervous. Reasonably sure everything will go well for 18-20 miles. Not at all sure what'll happen after that.

Reading Erika's blog, I see that she took a handful of blood sugar tests during her marathon. I'm going to try and not take a single one. Not because I don't think it's a great idea, but because I guess I figure I can't spare the time, and if my blood sugars do track too far out of the magic zone, I won't be able to get them back in quickly enough to hit 3:15 anyway. Like I said, I need a perfect day for 3:15. One part of that is perfectly well behaved blood sugars for 3 hours and 15 minutes.

My guess is that this is one of the reasons Missy Foy moved to 50 milers... there's not a lot of free time in 26 miles. 50 miles have aid stations - time for a 10 second test.

I know that the chances are far better that I'll track high than low (due to adrenaline) and I'm hopeful that I'll remember what my crappy 20 miler felt like so that I can dial up a unit or two of insulin without testing if I need it. After 23 years with diabetes, I do know what highs and lows feel like.

I'm going to work hard to be 200-220 at the start, keep my basal rate at 20% of normal, and eat 37 g. of carbs every six miles. At least, that's the plan. Otherwise, I just hope my knees still flex (a little) when it's over.

That's probably all from blog land until the end. The race is Sunday. Results posted when I can.

Comments

  1. Anonymous4:25 PM

    Good luck Marcus! One suggestion - because of "nerves" with the race, start with your blood sugar just a little lower than you usually do for a long run, maybe 180 instead of 200, but take the same amount of insulin and use the same basal rate reduction. Then follow the same carb gel plan you usually do. Oh, one other suggestion - I've found that because of the effect of nerves on my blood sugar with a race, I start a marathon (first 1.5 to 2 miles) at about 20 sec/mile SLOWER than the pace I plan to run - so as not to compound the problem of my blood sugar rising and so I can burn off a little bit of that extra that surges out on race morning!
    Missy Foy
    I heart you too!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. erika6:43 AM

    Good luck! You are more than ready for tomorrow. You have your goal and your plan on how to get there in place. When you hit the wall, climb over it, knock it down...whatever it takes to get to that finish. I'll be thinking of you Sunday as you kick the hell out of those 26.2 miles!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:07 AM

    Congratulations on hitting your goal paces this week. Sounds like you're ready to race! Best of luck getting that Boston qualifying time you're looking for.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:27 AM

    Good luck man.

    I'll be out there. I am not sure where they are going to put me till tomorrow morning but I plan to take a semi-empty backpack for people I know to throw stuff at me when they see me that they want to ditch. Keep an eye out for me and feel free to throw anything but a needle at me ;).

    You're trained and ready, it will either happen or it won't, don't let the jitters get you.

    Stay strong.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Eric Gervase12:19 PM

    Good luck buddy... Can't wait to hear all about it. You're gonna do great.

    ReplyDelete
  6. zanne6:59 AM

    good luck marcus! i can't wait to read all about it!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The gun in my basement.

Image
In my basement, I have a safe. And in that safe, under expired passports and birth certificates, there's a gun. It's unloaded. Hasn't been loaded in probably twenty years, and yet every time I take it out, I check to make sure. If you're a gun nerd, it's a 9 shot .22 revolver. On this website , it says that "it is true that many people have been killed by a .22 LR in the course of history," but the writer concludes that this weapon is a bad choice for self defense. I didn't buy it for self defense. I didn't even buy it. It was my father's and after he died, my mother gave it me, along with an Elgin watch he'd worn for years. The watch was weathered and worn and I took it to be restored. The jeweler refused, saying it was worthless. Two decades later, the watch is still in my jewelry box. There's no need for it to be locked up. I have no idea if this gun is in my possession legally. No idea if my father had a permit for it, or w
Read more

Happy D-Blog Day, Uh, I Guess...

So according to diabetics blog-wide, today is D-Blog Day, the day when those of us affected by diabetes are supposed to blog about it. Or draw awareness to diabetes... Or something like that. I'm really a bad poster child for the disease. Not because I'm not in great control (actually, I am), but because I've just never been bothered by the disease so much. Red sums it up well in Shawshank Redemption: "Get busy living, or get busy dying." So if living means three blood sugar tests a day, so be it. If living means being hooked up to an insulin pump, go to it. That being said, I feel for anyone with diabetic kids... I'm a tough guy about the disease. I wouldn't be if my kids had it. If either of my kids had diabetes, I'd be screaming about the politicians who are spending money on wars instead of research, and I'd be yelling about the schools that make it difficult to be a diabetic in the classroom. But my kids don't have diabetes, so instead I
Read more

Jon Obst - RIP

Image
Last night, I learned that Jon Obst, one of the best diabetic ultra runners the world has known and my teammate on the original Team Type 1 Running Team, had passed away. For me and for everyone who knew Jon, the news was heartbreaking. Since I learned about Jon's death, I've been thinking about the stories I knew about him. It would be entirely incorrect to say we were close. Near as I can count, we spent time together on four weekends for races, with a casual Facebook relationship in between and since. But the thing with Jon was, you didn't have to spend much time with him to feel close to him. Before I begin,  I want you to know how good of a runner Jon was. If you look at his results , you'll see that he completed 36 ultra races, finishing 11 of them on the podium. Anyone who has completed a single ultra knows how deep of a well it takes you to compete in such races. Keep in mind, this list doesn't include the races Jon didn't finish and anyone who knows
Read more